Jury selection continues in Phylicia Barnes murder case

Jury selection continued Wednesday for the man accused of killing 16-year-old North Carolina teen Phylicia Barnes, and lawyers from both sides made arguments about what could be a key piece of evidence in the case, as well as the motives of a detective who was a big part of the investigation.

Michael Johnson, 28, is accused of killing Barnes while she was visiting family in Baltimore in 2010. Johnson was arrested in April 2012 and charged with murder.

The trial was set to begin over the summer, but both the prosecution and defense asked for a postponement. Jury selection began Tuesday.

Barnes, who was an honors student at her North Carolina school, disappeared in December 2010 while she was visiting her sister in Baltimore for the holidays. Her body was found months later in the Susquehanna River in Cecil County. An autopsy determined she died of asphyxiation.

It wasn't until the spring of 2012 that police arrested Johnson, Barnes' sister's ex-boyfriend, and charged him with first-degree murder in the teen's death. Prosecutors said Johnson killed Barnes in her sister's apartment and then used a 35-gallon tub to move her body.

The storage bin is a key piece of evidence, but it's unclear yet if prosecutors will be allowed to use it, I-Team lead investigative reporter Jayne Miller said.

Prosecutors said two witnesses will testify that they saw Johnson struggling with the container just before Barnes was reported missing in December 2010.

To help prove their theory, prosecutors want to bring a storage bin into court and have someone about the same size as Barnes get into the bin to show it's big enough to hold a body. But Johnson's lawyers argued that no such container was ever found. They said witness statements are so confusing that the in-court demonstration by prosecutors shouldn't be allowed.

The judge agreed Tuesday but said another ruling could come later.

On both days, lawyers argued about Daniel Nicholson, the lead detective in the case. Nicholson was suspended last year on charges that he misused police resources to go into an apartment and search for his own missing daughter, who was later located unharmed.

Defense lawyers claim prosecutors rushed to indict Johnson in the Barnes slaying because of Nicholson's troubles. The indictment came one day after Nicholson's suspension.

Prosecutors said there's no connection, but jurors will hear the argument.

As jury selection continued Wednesday, there were new questions about Nicholson's conduct.

Johnson's lawyers argued that Nicholson's credibility is suspect. The lawyers argued that what he did in the search for his own daughter, he did in the Barnes case. They said in both, he operated outside the lines of his duties.

Despite the spotlight of the Barnes case, Nicholson may have violated departmental rules on Monday, Miller reports. The car he got into and drove was not his and belongs to the police department, she said. A spokesman told 11 News there are very few reasons a suspended officer would be permitted to take a departmental car home. A new inquiry has now been started to find out what he was doing, Miller reported.

Nicholson's record as a cop could become an issue for the jury to consider in the Barnes case. It includes several arrests in domestic situations, but no convictions.

In 1997, Nicholson was charged with beating his wife, but she refused to testify, and the charge was dropped. In 2002, he faced three assault charges in a personal situation but was found not guilty. In 2011, he was accused of beating his daughter -- the same daughter who later ran away -- with a coaxial cable. He ducked prosecution then when the family went through mediation, Miller reported.

The judge in the Barnes case has not made a public ruling about whether any part of Nicholson's record will go before the jury.

A gag order has been issued in the case, and the court has applied a very lengthy order controlling media access in the case, too. Media is currently not allowed in for jury selection because the judge said that there isn't enough room in the courtroom.

Johnson pleaded not guilty to the murder charge. A judge denied him bail earlier in the case, calling him a flight risk and a threat to public safety.

During that bail hearing, testimony from prosecutors revealed that Johnson and Barnes traded as many as 500 text messages during the summer before she disappeared. Barnes also reportedly told her sister that Johnson made her uncomfortable and she didn't like how he looked at her, prosecutors said.

A judge ruled in early January that a sexually explicit video involving Barnes and Johnson would be played in open court.

Johnson's defense lawyers maintain that Johnson is innocent and insist the case is circumstantial.

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